TONIGHT
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September 2, 2008
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Talking Torture
One of tonight's guests, Michael Otterman, has written a book called American Torture. In it he draws attention to the inefficacy of torture in yielding useful information, and the effect these sorts of interrogation methods have had on the security of our country. These techniques, he says, “do not make us more safe—they make us less safe.”
It is curious that someone like Mr. Otterman should choose to write a book about the torture practices of a country whose leaders have frequently and vehemently denied the use of torture. All those soldiers doing the Lynndie in Iraq? Just a few bad apples. The rendition of innocent people to be detained and tortured by other countries? Never happened. According to Condi Rice, that is.
Otterman will also likely discuss the memos that appeared earlier this month, in which the Gonzales justice department deemed lawful extreme interrogation measures without the knowledge of Congress. That our government condones practices like beating, drowning, and freezing to obtain information gives some indication as to why we have the sort of reputation we have around the world. The fact that our War on Terror still seems as unwinnable as ever suggests, as Mr. Otterman says, that the information obtained this way may not be as useful as our leaders believe.